Welcome to the Marvel Universe, Chris Pratt, You’re Star-Lord Now

Let February 6th, 2013 stand as the day I started desperately trying to remember that Star-Lord has a hyphen in it, for, after much deliberation, Marvel Entertainment has confirmed their choice of Chris Pratt for Star-Lord, the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy.

There were lots of other folks on the short list, according to deadline, including Pratt’s Zero Dark Thirty co-star Joel Edgerton, Jack Huston, Jim Sturgess, Lee Pace, Eddie Redmayne, Zachary Levi, and even Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Okay, so that’s not so much a short list as fishing around for every available young, white leading man in Hollywood who look like they could pack on the muscle. In addition to Zero Dark Thirty, Pratt’s credits span Parks and Recreation, The O.C., and even the upcoming Lego move.

His character, Peter Quill, is the founder and leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a human astronaut of secret half-alien heritage who actually is initially turned down for the job of the interplanetary policeman known as Star-Lord. In the comics, he brings the Guardians together, after several large conflicts weaken reality, to literally keep the universe from collapsing. It’s anyone’s guess how the characters will come together in Marvel Entertainment’s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie, although “to combat the forces of Thanos” seems a likely catalyst, given the final scene of The Avengers, and especially considering the team lineup.

Who’s left to fill out on the Guardians’ roster? Well, pretty much everyone. There’s Groot, the sentient plant-based life form; Rocket Raccoon, a foul-mouthed expert marksman and anthropomorphic alien raccoon; Drax the Destroyer, the reincarnated soul of a man killed by Thanos who seeks only to destroy him; and Gamora, “the deadliest woman in the galaxy,” raised by Thanos as a weapon but who eventually betrays him.

And now that even Captain America: The Winter Soldier has found its lead, perhaps we’ll be seeing news on the rest of the Guardians sooner rather than later.